Asia and Africa in the 15th and 16th centuriesWars and battles
Ethiopian–Adal War
Within a few years Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (Gragn) of the Adal Sultanate conquered about three-quarters of Christian Ethiopia; the country was saved with the help of a Portuguese force.
- Date
- March 1529 – 21 February 1543start: month known; end: exact date · duration: ≈ 14 years
- Place
- Ethiopian Highlandsapproximate locationtoday: Ethiopia · Africa
- Participants
- Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (Gragn), Cristóvão da Gama, Adal Sultanate, Ethiopian Empire, Kingdom of Portugal
- Threads
- Asia and Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries
- Also known as
- Футух аль-Хабаша
In March 1529, at Shimbra Kure, the imam’s forces defeated the army of Emperor Lebna Dengel for the first time; the emperor then wandered the country as a fugitive and died in 1540. The Portuguese answered the Ethiopians’ appeal: in 1541 a force of about 400 musketeers under Cristóvão da Gama, son of Vasco da Gama, landed at Massawa. Cristóvão himself was killed in 1542, but on 21 February 1543, at Wayna Daga, the Ethiopians and the Portuguese defeated the army of Adal, and Ahmad fell in battle.
Connections
Related events
- Battle of Diu3 February 1509 · South Asiapart of Portugal’s struggle against the Muslim powers of the Indian Ocean: Ottomans from Yemen came to the aid of Adal, and the Portuguese to the aid of Ethiopia
- Letters of Afonso I of Kongo on the slave trade1526 · Africatwo Christian kingdoms of Africa looked to Portugal for support: Afonso I corresponded with its kings, and Ethiopia called on the Portuguese for help against Adal
Same participants
- Yekuno Amlak founds the Solomonic dynasty1270 · Africavia Ethiopian Empire
- Portuguese on Tanegashima — the first Europeans in Japan1543 · East Asiavia Kingdom of Portugal
Adjacent events in the thread
- Capture of Baghdad by Suleiman Ibetween November and December 1534 · Middle East and Egypt
- Toungoo–Hanthawaddy War: the beginning of Burma’s unification1534 – May 1541 · Southeast Asia and Oceania
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Siege of Vienna (1529)27 September – 15 October 1529
- Publication of Copernicus’s De revolutionibus1543
Middle East and Egypt
- Capture of Baghdad by Suleiman Ibetween November and December 1534
East Asia
Southeast Asia and Oceania
North America
- Jacques Cartier’s second voyage — up the Saint Lawrence River19 May 1535 – 16 July 1536
- Hernando de Soto’s expedition into the interior of North America30 May 1539 – September 1543
Latin America
- Battle of Cajamarca16 November 1532